Premier Campbell Newman and his wife Lisa, at home with their dog Ollie. It is one year today since Mr Newman won the seat of Ashgrove and became Queensland's premier. PIC: Jamie Hanson Source: The Sunday Mail (Qld)

CAMPBELL Newman had secretly decided to turn his back on politics altogether before launching his audacious bid to be premier.

In an interview to mark today's first anniversary of the LNP's historic election victory, the Queensland Premier revealed he had made up his mind to leave public life, with even his fellow councillors in the dark about his plan not to recontest the Brisbane lord mayoralty.

"I'd actually come to the view that I would pull the pin in 2012," he told The Sunday Mail.

"I thought I had added the value that I could, I had done the things that I said I would do and it was time for someone else with fresh eyes to come on board."

Recommended Coverage

Mr Newman insisted he would take the same pragmatic approach as premier and would leave once his commitments to Queenslanders were fulfilled, unless his colleagues decided that his time was up earlier.

The front page of The Sunday Mail after last year's state election.

"It's like any CEO, people just shouldn't stay too long," he said.

"You have got to have the freshness and the energy and the excitement about doing the thing because if you don't you are not adding value.

"(But) if your colleagues don't agree you are adding value or they want you to go there is no point being around in those circumstances, no point whatsoever."

Mr Newman's comments are the strongest indication he has given yet that he has no plans of breaking records as a long-term premier although he would not reveal whether he and wife Lisa had set an exit date.

"She's just about forgiven me for the decision (to switch to state politics), just about, almost," he said.

Campbell Newman's Top Ten highlights of his first year as premier.

Mr Newman conceded there were multiple aspects of being premier that made it a tougher job than the lord mayoralty, from balancing regional demands to having an electorate to look after.

"As lord mayor you have got the whole city but you are not having to manage your own patch as well," he said.

"That is something that I have got to put time and effort into and I have."

While he steered away from revealing how long he planned to serve in office, the Premier said there would be vast differences between his legacies in City Hall and state.

He said while he had built tunnels in Brisbane, there would be no physical "monuments", such as roads or railways, given the state's financial constraints.

WINNERS, LOSERS: Premier Campbell Newman presides at his first LNP meeting since the election.

But Mr Newman wants to be remembered for leaving an economy envied around the nation and a best-practice model of public administration.

"For me it is about the economy really humming, about a jobless figure down to about 4 per cent, it is about a state government that is really cost efficient and effective," he said.

"My vision would be that all around Australia, down the track when I am gone, at that stage people will say that the Queensland State Government is a model of what we should see across government in Australia."

Yet talk of leaving a legacy seems an eternity away from the Newman Government's first 12 months in office which has been dominated by everything but a positive agenda.

There have been public service sackings not promised before the election, three ministerial resignations and a further three backbenchers dramatically quitting the LNP within days of each other.

Mr Newman lamented how this cacophony of controversies had overshadowed much of the good things his government had achieved.

"In terms of implementation of our policy agenda I think we have come up trumps, I think we have done a very good job of delivering on a whole lot of things," he said.

"I guess my biggest frustration is that has been overshadowed by other things which is the stuff that hasn't gone so well."

But the Premier said the LNP's biggest challenge would be what comes next - convincing Queenslanders about the extent of the financial problems that the state faced and developing the solutions.

The highly anticipated Costello Report into the state's finances remains under wraps but the executive summary clearly outlines the need for asset sales.

The Government remains resolute about not selling assets without a mandate and Mr Newman is sceptical about selling electricity assets.

"I think Queenslanders don't want a bar of asset sales and I am a Queenslander who has significant reservations about some of the proposals, the big proposals, for the asset sales," he said.

"But we have got to have the discussion because there are various choices."

There is speculation already gathering that the up-and-coming "Queensland Plan" has been devised to develop those various choices, a "wish list" that could only be funded from the proceeds of asset sales after paying down debt.

Mr Newman is heavily critical of the Government's efforts so far communicating the message of the state's financial problems, describing it as their "biggest failure".

"I don't think we have got across to Queenslanders how serious the financial problems of the State Government are," he said.

"That is a very important building block because people have to have that realisation for us to then really talk about these reforms."

The seismic overhaul of the state's administration and finances that Mr Newman is now steering is a world away from where his second political life took seed.

While there has been much speculation about the genesis of his switch, it all began with an impromptu discussion with Treasurer Tim Nicholls during a Chinese New Year function at MacGregor State School.

"We sat there on a hot steamy Saturday morning and I just said 'Tim, I think I can help get the team over the line'," he said.

News.com.au's Privacy Policy includes important information about our collection, use and disclosure of your personal information (including to provide you with targeted content and advertising based on your online activities). It explains that if you do not provide us with information we have requested from you, we may not be able to provide you with the goods and services you require. It also explains how you can access or seek correction of your personal information, how you can complain about a breach of the Australian Privacy Principles and how we will deal with a complaint of that nature.

A NOTE ABOUT RELEVANT ADVERTISING: We collect information about the content (including ads) you use across this site and use it to make both advertising and content more relevant to you on our network and other sites.